I really believe he does not remember things vividly. He looked at a few pictures and just said he could not remember a face, but could remember the small details. He is adamant about the "turkey gobble" and "geeky" features. He told us he wrote a paper in Italian for one of his college writing classes. The teacher read it and pulled him aside and asked if it was really true....it would be great if he still had a copy of it. Can you imagine the information contained in that paper?

Where did 727s fly dirty?

A reader at the Mountain News has triggered an interesting conversation about the usage of 727s. The Big Question is: Where were 727s used? Besides Boeing's Moses Lake facility, where else did 727 fly as Cooper instructed?

Was it in Vietnam, as long thought, although unconfirmed, to drop SOG troopers into the boonies?

Or could the 727s be used in a different manner - such as mimicking a commercial flight over Russia, eastern Europe, commie-countries, etc., and then when approaching the drop zone switch out of commercial flight parameters of 30,000 feet and 500+mph, to the established metrics of flaps 15, wheels down and locked, 10,000 feet, unpressurized cabin, and speed about 200 mph.

Then, once the commando(s) were deployed - for a hit or another small covert op - the 727 quickly resumed commercial flight characteristics.

Bottom Line: If you had a 727 and you knew how to jump from it, how would you use it?

The more I think about SOG, the less I think SOG was involved with 727s. Maj. John Plaster says "no way," and the helos and C-130s seemed to be adequate for what SOG was tasked with.

So the question is - what kinds of ops preferred a 727?  Or even more compelling - what kind of op REQUIRED a 727?

If we can find where the 727s flew as Cooper demanded, then maybe we can find Cooper.

In the end only a handful of 727s were ever operated by the US military under the C-22 designation, and these aircraft were only used for cargo and personnel transport as far as I am aware of. Thus the USAF may have passed up a plentiful, relatively economic and FAA certified airframe with great multi-role potential and little need for modification.

In 1971, no civilian knew that a 727 could be flown with the aft stairway extended. But 727's had been used in Vietnam for years to drop agents behind enemy lines. Only the C.I.A. knew this. And what important personage was, even then, being groomed to head the Agency? And was also a World War II pilot shot down in battle, which gave him the necessary knowledge of parachutes and survival skills? Add the choice of suit and loafers, doubtless influenced by years at Andover and Yale, and it's clear that, once again, all roads lead to the White House.

I'm back looking for a high-rez pix of composite B with sunglasses. (Thanks, Shut, for your contribution six months ago, but I'm having trouble getting the color up).

I'm putting together the hard-copy edition and I need a better pix than what I have.  Thanks-

Crap, I did it again. I posted on your post